Monday 22nd June: Uganda to Rwanda.
We had to push start Dusty again today, after breakfast. We are careful
to leave it in a position that makes it easy. John, the chief mechanic
for this trip, has been checking everything to find out what’s causing
the problem with the dual battery system. It’s most likely they’ve just
reached the end of their lifespan.
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| Lake Bunyoni Uganda |
We set off from Lake Bunyoni for the
Rwandan border, a journey of 2 hours. The Ugandan people have been so
friendly & hospitable, always waving as we went through their
villages and helpful in every way.
When we arrived at
the border, the exit from Uganda was smooth and the entry into Rwanda
equally smooth, although more officious and not very welcoming.
Tourists are still a novelty in this country so that might be the
reason. We also had to drive on the right hand side of the road once we
passed through the border post. Once into the country we found very
good roads, a rarity in this part of Africa. It is a country of endless
mountains and beautiful scenery with a thriving agriculture; coffee
being by far the largest exporter. Because the country is so
mountainous and the population so dense, terrace growing is used on the
hillsides and it all looks so orderly and fertile.
We wondered what awaited us in Rwanda, known more for the genocide of 1994 than anything else. The genocide resulted in the deaths of over a million people. But death was not its only outcome. Tens of thousands of people had been tortured, mutilated and raped. Tens of thousands more suffered machete cuts, bullet wounds, infection and starvation. There was rampant lawlessness, looting and chaos. The infrastructure had been destroyed, the ability to govern dismantled. Homes had been demolished, belongings stolen. There were over 300,000 children orphaned. There were thousands of widows. Many had been the victim of rape and sexual abuse, often by known HIV carriers and subsequently caught the disease. Others had seen their children murdered in front of them because the aim was to exterminate the Tutsi population by murdering the young people.
It took a couple of hours to get to the capital Kigali. Once there, we headed to the genocide memorial centre. We were there for about an hour and a lot of people just cried their way around, reading the background, the genocide and the aftermath to it. After that sobering visit, we needed to find beds for the night & set off in search.
We wondered what awaited us in Rwanda, known more for the genocide of 1994 than anything else. The genocide resulted in the deaths of over a million people. But death was not its only outcome. Tens of thousands of people had been tortured, mutilated and raped. Tens of thousands more suffered machete cuts, bullet wounds, infection and starvation. There was rampant lawlessness, looting and chaos. The infrastructure had been destroyed, the ability to govern dismantled. Homes had been demolished, belongings stolen. There were over 300,000 children orphaned. There were thousands of widows. Many had been the victim of rape and sexual abuse, often by known HIV carriers and subsequently caught the disease. Others had seen their children murdered in front of them because the aim was to exterminate the Tutsi population by murdering the young people.
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| Memorial for 10 Belgian soldiers killed in this house on the7th April 1994 |
It took a couple of hours to get to the capital Kigali. Once there, we headed to the genocide memorial centre. We were there for about an hour and a lot of people just cried their way around, reading the background, the genocide and the aftermath to it. After that sobering visit, we needed to find beds for the night & set off in search.
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| Kigali Genocide Memorial |
It’s difficult here, if
you exclude the big hotels like the 5 star Serena. There’s very little
in between that & really basic, due to nonexistent tourism. We
really struggled and a few places were full. Finally, we happened upon
the Rose guest house, which is mentioned in our east Africa Guide as a
good place for expats. It may have been such when the guide was issued
but now it was very basic, and very empty.
Still, we had a base if we
got desperate. Food was a pressing issue too so we headed off to the
Kabana Pizzeria and had one of the best pizzas I’ve had outside Italy.
After dinner, we checked out a couple of more places but all were full. Finally, we came across the Romalo guest house and it seemed good from the outside. I went in to enquire & secured rooms at a good price. It was just then we discovered the time zone changed and it was an hour earlier than Uganda. We laughed at the rooms; they were huge and about as naff as you’d find anywhere. However, we had toilet seats although loo paper in my room would have been a nice touch too. The rooms were named after cities: John was in Tokyo & I was in Cape Town.
It seemed a quiet location so we
headed off to our rooms with the intention of an early start the next
morning. Soon after drifting off to sleep, the neighbours’ dogs started
barking and continued for what seemed like hours. We were awake now.
Sleep seemed all but impossible & then they stopped, probably worn
out themselves.
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| Kabana Pizzeria Kigali |
After dinner, we checked out a couple of more places but all were full. Finally, we came across the Romalo guest house and it seemed good from the outside. I went in to enquire & secured rooms at a good price. It was just then we discovered the time zone changed and it was an hour earlier than Uganda. We laughed at the rooms; they were huge and about as naff as you’d find anywhere. However, we had toilet seats although loo paper in my room would have been a nice touch too. The rooms were named after cities: John was in Tokyo & I was in Cape Town.
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| Romalo Guest House Kigali |
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